Interesting Update to 1700s Flintlock! Barrel was loaded with this...

[SC Keith]

Today I opened a small area on the flintlock barrel after reading a fellow TNET members tip (Thanks Rege-PA)! After opening the barrel above the location at which a rod would push no further, I pushed the rod again through a cocoon like shell of fused gunpowder and carefully worked out this buck and ball load and the piece of cloth.
I dont know if this is a game load or a load for fighting.

 

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[halo71]

Wow, that's pretty amazing!

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

Nothing like a find within a find! NICE!!!

 

[villagenut]

Now I really,really wonder what the story was before it ended up where you found it................

 

[FloodcityTom]

I'd surmise "buck" shot for hunting dear in heavy brush. I can't speaki for Colonial era but the traditonal "buck ad Ball" during the civil war was a larger round ball and two or somethimes three smaller round balls like around 22 cal size. Supposedly got greater range.

Cery Cool find!!!!

 

[40 Rounds]

The standard military round for a buck and ball was 1 .69 caliber and 3 .25 to .31 caliber buckshot balls. There were variances and deviations sometimes by individual soldiers as prior to the Civil War period it was not uncommon form irregular troops or militia to make their own rounds. Whether the load you have removed from the musket is a military or hunting round is open for conjecture. Only the original gun owner who loaded it would truly know. whether hunting game or trying to take down an enemy it was thought to increase your chances of success by having more projectiles.

 

[Erik in NJ]

For the uninitiated amongst us, can someone please give us a description of what a "buck and ball" was and the timeframe in which it was used? What is the fluffy stuff in his palm? A wad of sorts?

 

[releventchair]

For the uninitiated amongst us, can someone please give us a description of what a "buck and ball" was and the timeframe in which it was used? What is the fluffy stuff in his palm? A wad of sorts?

Could be loose "tow".( Flax fibre.) Though cloth would have been better. And linen better yet.
It may be a course weave in a cloth in the picture. Homespun could be quite course.

Folks used what they could get their hands on. A worn shirt cut into patches , to a filched Irish linen napkin from a fancy table. Many types of material worked when in a pinch.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Whatever the original owners intended target was, he definitely wanted it dead. I’ve played around with buck and ball rounds in my smoothbores, it’s not something I’d want to be on the receiving end of. Some units in the iron brigade preferred smoothbore m1842 springfields just because of the buck and ball round.

When I load my m1816 conversion, I use a .578 ball and 3-.311 pistol balls with 70gr. FFFG, pistol balls go down first in case they jam. Lots of fun to shoot but the effective range is less than 100 yards

 

[Calabash Digger]

Very cool find my friend!!

 

[CRUSADER]

Whatever the original owners intended target was, he definitely wanted it dead. I’ve played around with buck and ball rounds in my smoothbores, it’s not something I’d want to be on the receiving end of. Some units in the iron brigade preferred smoothbore m1842 springfields just because of the buck and ball round.

When I load my m1816 conversion, I use a .578 ball and 3-.311 pistol balls with 70gr. FFFG, pistol balls go down first in case they jam. Lots of fun to shoot but the effective range is less than 100 yards

So I conclude from that, that they wanted to kill something at very close range!

 

[releventchair]

So I conclude from that, that they wanted to kill something at very close range!

A defense is a discouragement.
Buck and ball upped the odds of connecting .
Not as accurately as a single ball in the right barrel , but a hole in someone before sanitation and understanding of infection was a bad thing.
Not like today when a person can get whisked off for understood treatment in sanitary conditions and recover from a marginal hit, not getting shot was a priority back then.

Small handguns at close range were popular a long time. Well , some still are.
Not just as a last ditch effort , but for a populace to understand , anyone could be able to counter assault of their persons.

Amount of clothing would factor in smaller balls and low powder charges ability to penetrate too.
But the very real risks involved in getting shot resulting in infection likely reduced incidence rates for all but the most desperate.
So wanting to kill instantaneously may not have been the goal as much as making a hole. Which of course could lead to a kill , but would certainly mark a perpetrator. And reward them for their effort.

 

[FallColors]

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